Building Bridges of Understanding will explore the concepts and issues covered in the Religion, Peace, and Conflict conference. The conference will feature group discussions about conflicts between religious and cultural groups and how to fix them in order to create a harmony of peace and understanding. The main goal of these conferences is to bring many groups together in hopes of ultimately purging intolerance and hate throughout the world.
Participants hope to take advantage of our wonderful location, Dearborn, as it is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the United States. Within this city are a plethora of different cultures, religions, and worldviews that may experience conflicts due to a lack of understanding.
“We aim to cultivate compassion and understanding to battle cultural illiteracy,” said Bill Secrest, a World Religions professor and key member of the peace conference.
In order to eliminate the problem of cultural illiteracy, the conference will bring forth leaders of many faiths to properly shed light upon their belief systems and will foster open discussions.
The main objective of Building Bridges of Understanding is to supplement the conference by featuring different writers who wish to shed light upon their belief systems while dispelling common misconceptions. This new column will also explore topics such as how the academic study of world religions can promote harmony, the problems of transgenerational trauma, and key issues like islamophobia and other forms of racism.
The Religion, Peace, and Conflict conference will not be biased toward any religion or culture; rather, it will be a celebration of diversity of all sorts. The conference will feature a variety of well-known religious speakers, different panels featuring religions, training for how to engage unfamiliar cultures, and festivities including music, food, and art.
The main conference will take place April 4 – 6 of 2013. However, subcommittees meet throughout the year in order to plan and discuss what will occur in April. Any student or faculty member interested in exploring the methods of unifying cultural groups is highly encouraged to come to the subcommittees and the main conference.
If you are interested in joining the committee or are seeking further information, contact Bill Secrest at wsecrest@hfcc.edu or Cassandra Fluker at crfluker@hfcc.edu.

If you have any ideas, or would like to write an article for Building Bridges of Understanding, please contact Amir El-Aswad at editor@hfcc.edu.